Trustee Shah denies pressuring admissions officials

CHICAGO - The chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees testified Tuesday that he never pushed to admit any relatives as students to the school or was pressured by any public officials to support certain applicants.

Chairman Niranjan Shah told the Illinois Admissions Review Commission he had no knowledge of any list of politically connected applicants that was kept by the school's flagship Champaign-Urbana campus. He did receive requests from community members to inquire about certain students' applications.